In memory: Local veterans remember those who made ultimate sacrifice

Sunday

Veterans from Burlington and Bucks counties said they use Memorial Day to serve the memories of their fallen military members.

Earl Courter’s memories of serving in Vietnam never leave him, but around Memorial Day they come back even stronger.

“I always remember what happened,” Courter, 75, of Delran, said. “It was like yesterday when my whole platoon got wiped out. Sometimes that’s rough getting over Memorial Day and (remembering) those who passed away and you feel like survivor guilt — why am I here and they’re gone.”

Memorial Day brings back the memory of Ferdie Tellado’s classmate Reginald Stancil.

“I used to run track with an individual — his name was Reggie Stancil,” said Tellado, a Vietnam veteran from Bristol Township. “And he went into the service before me. He was in ROTC, became a lieutenant, went to Vietnam and within a month, he was killed. So every time Memorial Day comes around, I remember him.”

Edward Sabol, who also served in Vietnam, remembers one of his fellow soldiers on the holiday.

“Manny Favazza is one of the main guys that I was with when I was in Vietnam,” the Falls veteran said. “He’s no longer with us.”

For local veterans, the celebration of Memorial Day evokes strong memories of their fallen comrades who lost their lives in service to their country. While towns and local Veterans of Foreign Wars groups host parades and services, the veterans who attend them and participate in them carry the memories of their service and those who are no longer here.

“A lot of those flags have faces,” said Richard Bruehl, a Vietnam veteran from Bristol Borough.

The history of Memorial Day dates back to the Civil War, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. In May 1868, three years after the war had ended, the Grand Army of the Republic started a “Decoration Day” where people across the country could take time to decorate the graves of those who had died in the war with flowers. That was the first year a large-scale observance was held at Arlington National Cemetery, according to the VA. The official birthplace of Memorial Day, however, was credited to Waterloo, New York, by President Lyndon Johnson and Congress in 1966, for holding a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honoring local veterans who had fought in the war.

In 1971, Congress officially declared Memorial Day a national holiday and expanded it to honor all Americans who had died in the country’s wars. It also was moved to the last Monday in May.

The day also serves as a reminder for those who have lost a military member in their family, even it it wasn’t during combat.

U.S. Air Force captain and instructor pilot Scott Craven, of Bensalem, wasn’t killed during combat, but during an automobile accident in Georgia in 2006. Still, Memorial Day serves as another reminder for his family to honor his legacy.

“It’s difficult,” his father Robert Craven, also a veteran of the Air Force, said. “We’ve all lost somebody — my son is a deceased vet.”

Craven, who serves as president of the Guardians of the National Cemetery, the official support committee for the Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Upper Makefield, spends most of Memorial Day weekend at events at the cemetery and surrounding communities. But once his work is done, he said, he’s not usually in the mood to celebrate.

“That day you don’t want me (around),” he said. “I’ll sit and go home with my family.”

Still, Craven and others said the day also reminds veterans to continue their service, especially in honor of those who passed.

“They’re our heroes,” Todd Epperly, the Burlington County District Commander for the VFW, said. “They’ve gone before us and we’re here to take care of what’s left on this side of life. And it’s very important that we remember them — they’re not forgotten and it’s a special day for veterans to do that.”

Epperly helped organize the 73rd Memorial Service at Beverly National Cemetery the week before Memorial Day. The service gave those in attendance a chance to remember those who were buried in the cemetery through the placing of wreaths and honors given to Gold Star families.

Epperly, his son Kevin, 20, both of Riverside, as well as Josh Ashton, from Delran, who served in the Army, made a special stop at the grave of Thomas Campbell Jr., who died in December 2015 and was a member of the local VFW post 3020 with both Todd Epperly and Ashton.

Like Epperly, Tellado, an administrative representative of the Delaware Valley Vietnam Veterans organization, said the day is a reminder to continue to serve in the memory of those who have died.

“It's fine celebrations, barbecues and all that, but because of that people are forgetting what the real meaning of Memorial Day is,” he said. “It's warriors that died in combat and that's who we're honoring.”

Robert Craven also serves as the director for the Scott Craven Mentoring Fund, which helps provide mentoring programs for students at the Sallas-Mahone Elementary School near Moody Air Force Base in Georgia where his son was stationed before he passed away. Both he and Sabol said the day also gives them a chance to vocalize causes and programs that support military members, veterans and their families so they’re not left behind.

“We have to be the voice for all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice,” Sabol said. "By doing this we remember them and make sure they're not forgotten, what they did for us."

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